Three Mile Island Anthropogenic Environmental Disasters Case Study

Based on the NRC (1), the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is a commercial nuclear plant where has two nuclear reactors (TMI-1 and TMI-2). General Public Utilities Corporation built the power plant and Metropolitan Edison Company ran and managed the plant. TMI-1 and TMI-2 reactors were pressurized water reactors; and their generated power were 802 MWe and 906 MWe respectively. TMI-2 had an accident on March 28, 1979, particularly, the reactor was melted and radioactivity was released to the outside of plant. Fortunately, there was no detectable effects on workers, public and surrounding environment due to radioactive release. However, the direct economic losses cause by this accident

The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nu clear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, in reactor number 2 of The Three mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Deuphin County, Pensylvania, United States. It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant in history.

Three Mile Island accident was the most severe disaster in U.S. nuclear power plant history, in spite of the fact that its little radioactive discharges had no recognizable health consequences for power plant laborers or the general population. In late 1970's failing of Three Mile Island-2 was watched and radioactivity discharges to the surroundings. Plant Engineers trusted the incident was because of failure in cooling systems; the generated heat remains in the reactor, which leads increase in pressure. According to the rector structure, the valve was not closed and the machine in the control room it peruses the valve was shut. As a result alternate instruments in the plant appeared insufficient subtle elements to follow genuine reason

Three Mile Island atomic plant is situated in a place called Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. A disaster happened in this plant is recorded as one of the fatal disasters in the history of nuclear power plants. The nuclear plant comprises of two under pressure water reactor in two compartments unit I and unit II, the disaster precisely happened in unit II. March 28th 1979 was the day when the unit-II of the plant has been closed down in order to refuel and a large portion of the energy was delivered by the atomic reactor in unit-II. Laborers were removing the particles which caused blockage in condensation station in unit-II, when for reasons unknown water sustaining the channels was ceased. Because of this water streaming to fundamental core

Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant consists of two nuclear reactors. The second reactor is a pressurized water (PWR) type with 2700 MW power generation capacity. It was put online a year before the accident happened on March 28, 1979. The event started when a high pressure starts to increase inside the reactor, causing a pressure relief valve to open. The valve stuck open causing loss of steam and water from the reactor primary system. The operator unaware of the stuck valve was misled by the high water level in the pressurizer shown in figure 3 and shut down the cooling water system. Consequently, the water in the reactor boiled away and reactor core overheated and partially melted. Hydrogen was produced as a result and exploded, but luckily

In Pennsylvania, the worst nuclear power plant accident in the United States occurred. Nuclear power plants generate a mass of electricity using steam generators. The plants are very controversial concerning their safety with the environment and its role with unstable reactants like uranium and plutonium. On March 12, 1979, someone at the Three Mile Island’s second reactor, or TMI-2 for short, left a relief valve wide open leading large amounts of nuclear reactant cooling to the main reactor. All of the coolant leaving TMI-2 was recognized by the control panel in the plant but was disregarded as a loss that typically happens. At first, the surrounding towns were told that the incident wasn’t anything of worry. But after a couple days

With misread gauges, bad decisions and stuck valves, a partial meltdown of the reactor core, set free radioactive gases into the air. There were arguments to shut down power plants, which is a major energy source. This primary energy source, nuclear energy, provides electricity, which is a lesser energy source. As humans progress, we have many energy sinks, so without this major energy source (nuclear power plants) we may not have been able to sustain the amount of phone use and computer use that we are used to. An energy sink is anything that uses energy. If nuclear power plants had been shut down, a huge part of the energy market would be shut down, making it so energy would cost more, and we might have to cut back on our normal energy use. This was very close to happening. The gases released were not harmful, but it brought a big scare and a great topic for people against nuclear power plants. This accident shows that even our most advanced technology is not perfect, and we still have a lot more advancements we can have to create more energy, with more efficiency and limit any

Due to this happening, there was no way to operate the emergency core-cooling systems for the reactors. The water inside the reactors melted, exposing the fuel, which then overheated and reacted with steam to form flammable hydrogen gas. Hydrogen explosions damaged the reactor containment buildings and discharged radioactive gases from the damaged fuel. To put a stop to such a power loss from now on, plant engineers should install numerous connections to the offsite power grid; position emergency diesel generators on high level grounds; and set up plenty of mobile emergency diesel

Nevertheless, their attempts to cool the reactor failed due to a malfunctioned cooling system that had a possible blockage in the water supply piping or a valve failure. The temperature and pressure inside the reactor began to rise uncontrollably in a runaway chemical reaction. Inside the reactor the pressure was still, increasing reaching 400 pounds per square inch and boosting the rupture disc. A good example of what was happening is to compare it to a tea kettle on the stove. As steam and heats up within the kettle, it looks for an opening to relieve pressure. When the steam finds that opening it begins to make the whistling sound which gets louder and louder as the water continues to heat up and the steam escapes the kettle more quickly.

In Fukushima, the accident was caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the plant. Fukushima power station was worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami destroying the backup power, building facility and the external nuclear power supply. The following morning, after the accident had occurred, radioactive materials were found scattered in the environment.

It has been nearly seven years since the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, Japan. It was on March 11, 2011 when the pacific coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan, was hit by a forceful earthquake of magnitude of 9.0 and following tsunami. The powerful waves came in all the way up to ten kilometers inland and the result was over twenty thousand people dead or missing and an enormous amount of vital infrastructure damage including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.1 There were six reactors operating in the region at the time and three of them reached full meltdown due to the failure of the cooling system caused mainly by the tsunami, releasing dozens of radioactive elements into the

The reactor explosion of unit four ChNPP, Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union, was caused primarily by design errors and negligence of safety procedures by staff operators (Frot, N.d. & OECD-NEA, 2000). As a result, caused a sudden power surge and steam explosion that ruptured the reactor cap and fuel channels to implode, releasing radioactive material and gases to the atmosphere (Frot, N.d.) The fire and explosion from ChNPP, resulted in the release of large quantities of volatile radionuclides (Iodine131, Caesium134, Caesium137, and Strontium90), noble gases (Xenon and Krypton), and fragmented fuel and debris up to the atmosphere (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 2012). Consequently, the negative environmental and human health impacts associated from the radioactive fallout required remedial actions, to re-sustain the environment and human health, and prevent further recontamination of the source pathways.

Many critics argue that due to the Three Mile Island nuclear incident that occurred March 28, 1979, in Pennsylvania resulted in a reactor meltdown, with no casualties due to a combination of equipment failure and a lack of operators understanding what to do to a faulty reactor. This incident has put the majority public to have safety concerns over not only the operators working in the plants but also the civilians in the surrounding area. Yet since the accident, the United States formed the National Academy for Nuclear Training to improve training the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations which reviews and accredits nuclear utilities’ training programs for all key positions at each plant. In addition, nuclear energy plants have proven the ability to produce clean electricity without greenhouse gas emissions and the reliability due to its increased efficiency and increased power output.

history took place on March 28, 1979 at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. A cooling system failed, causing a partial meltdown, but a full meltdown was averted and there were no fatalities. However, despite the positive outcome and despite the passage of more than 30 years, the incident remains fresh in the minds of those who are old enough to remember it.

According to EcoWatch.com the oldest reactor in the country is located in “Rochester, N.Y.”, to which was licensed in 1969. When former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu was asked if “U.S. nuclear plants could withstand an earthquake hat measured 9.0 on the Richter scale”, a spokesperson for the NRC suggested, “He should just say “Yes, it can.” Worry about being wrong when it doesn’t.” In the film, the phonographs showed an alteration to the original photo of the generator. I the original photo, there is a clear malfunction in the generator, to which was altered in the photo that was used to cover up the problem. Jack was told to stay out of it or else there will be consequences.